THE national Covid-19 caseload breached the 100,000 mark today after Malaysia reported 1,581 new infections in the past 24 hours.

Director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a statement today that the fresh cases have brought the total number of infections to 100,318 while active cases rose to 18,773.

He said only two of today’s cases were imported.

Noor Hisham said Selangor continues to top the Covid-19 tally for the ninth day in a row after logging 491 cases in the past 24 hours.

He said Kuala Lumpur saw the second-highest number of cases at 379, followed by Sabah with 249 cases.

Prison and detention centers clusters on the other hand, he said, contributed 270 cases.

Health authorities also discovered four new clusters of infection.

On another note, Noor Hisham said 1,085 people were discharged from the hospital after recovering from the coronavirus in the past 24 hours.

With this, he said, the total number of recoveries from the coronavirus now stands at 81,099.

Two deaths were also reported today – both of which were in Sabah.

Noor Hisham said one of the deceased was a 15-year-old girl who was brought to the Lahad Datu hospital.

This has brought the national death toll to 446.

Meanwhile, 102 patients are currently warded in the intensive care unit, of whom 45 require respiratory support. – December 24, 2020.